Waterfalls and Glaciers: Mývatn

We made it to Mývatn just in time for our dinner reservation at Vogafjós Farm Resort, a farm that also operated as a hotel and restaurant. We had to walk right by the cow shed to enter the restaurant and the smell confirmed that the farm was in full working order. The food lived up to the restaurant's rating as one of the best in the lake area, especially the sampler plate of Icelandic specialties.

Despite the excellent food I felt irritated that we hadn't been able to see anything on our itinerary north of Dettifoss. I had marked Rauðhólar and Ásbyrgi as optional stops, but was I sure we weren't missing something exceptional? As we ate I studied the map and realized that there was a way we could return to the area and visit those places without compromising our itinerary for the next day. Since we were having an early dinner, we could knock out a couple of the sights around the lake before it got dark and then get out of Mývatn earlier the next day. We could retrace to Rauðhólar and Ásbyrgi and then take the coastal road west through Húsavík. If we didn't dawdle too long at any one place we'd be able to make it to Akureyri for our dinner reservation at 8:30.

After dinner we wasted no time driving back along the Ring Road to the turn-off for Krafla. This volcanic caldera is famous for the blue pool called Viti at the base of the crater. The eruption that formed the crater is also responsible for the nearby steaming lava field called Leirhnjúkur. On the road to Krafla we passed by an enormous geothermal plant and then parked in a lot right next to the caldera. We could see Viti from the lowest part of the crater rim but decided to walk up the narrow edge of the crater anyway. It was a little scary because of the wind and the steep slopes on either side of the rim, but probably not steep enough for us to fall all the way down into the water. Viti appeared more dark blue than the legendary turquoise, possibly due to the clouds and the lateness of the hour. The area around the crater was another volcanic wasteland dotted with other calderas and small patches of grassland between them.

On the way back to Mývatn we stopped at the Hverir geothermal area right off the Ring Road. This was more impressive than Seltun from the first day but the lack of a boardwalk made me nervous to take the kids for a stroll among the boiling mudpots. The kids were more than happy to stay with me on the viewing platform because of the powerful sulfur smell and the clouds of annoying midges that were harassing us. Mývatn is actually named for the midges which periodically swarm the entire area around the lake. Some people claim they bite but this is hotly disputed and we didn't feel any bites, but nevertheless they are quite annoying and get into every part of the face including the mouth and eyes. After a while I realized it was preferable to breathe through my mouth and swallow the occasional midge than to suck them into my nose. One way to avoid the issue is with hats that come with nets attached but out stay in Mývatn was so short that we didn't bother.

The quickest route to our hotel was along the western shore of the lake. Mývatn was completely different from Lagarfjlót, the lake we had driven alongside in the morning, but no less beautiful. Instead of a mirror-like surface, Mývatn had an irregular shoreline full of little projections and inlets as well as numerous little ponds not far from the main lake. The vegetation around the lake was lush and there were numerous uninhabited islets that were equally verdant. Guesthouse Stöng was another ten minute drive down a dirt road from the main highway. By the time we arrived the sun was below the horizon and the isolated cottages were half buried in the mist, illuminated by the last few rays of sunlight that filtered through the clouds. It was a ghostly sight but we were glad to finally have a place to rest our heads. When we unpacked we found Ian's lost hoodie in the dirty clothes bag and no one would admit to having stuffed it in there. Regardless, we accepted this find as a good omen for the second half of our journey.

In the morning we had better light in which to take stock of our surroundings. It seemed as though we had stumbled upon another beautiful accommodation in the middle of nowhere. The cottages looked as though they had fallen from the sky into an enormous field of dandelions. The lake was too far away to be visible and the cinder cones that surrounded it were just distant shadows on the horizon. This bucolic environment was a world apart from the volcanic wasteland we had explored the previous night. The only hotel we had stayed at with a more impressive setting was The Garage in southern Iceland.

After a typical buffet breakfast we got started on our itinerary. We wanted to find the best way to experience the lakeside atmosphere so we drove to the nature preserve Höfði. From the small parking lot a trail led into the wooded area which was surprisingly dense for Iceland. Eventually we reached the shoreline where we could get right up to the clear, aquamarine water and enjoy the curiously shaped little islets that dotted the surface of the lake. I was expecting to be tortured by the midges here but we had no problem with them at all, perhaps because it was so early.

The turn-off for Dimmuborgir was just a short distance away. This protected area of lava pillars was formed by steam pressure from ground water trapped beneath a pool of lava. The entrance had some elevation which made it a good vantage point to look outward over the lake. There's a lot of local mythology about Dimmuborgir due to the resemblance of the structures to a miniature city. It was quite a long walk from the parking area to the most well-known formations. Kirkjan is a short tunnel whose entrance has an ogee arch shape suggestive of a Gothic church.

It's strictly prohibited to climb on most of the lava formations due to their brittleness. One exception is the short clamber up to an elevated circular window in a wall of lava that's a favorite for photographs. On the other side of the window is a trail leading to Hverfjall, the largest cinder cone in the lake area. There's a path to the top of Hverfjall but since we had already climbed to the top of the caldera at Krafla we gave that one a miss.

If I had to do Dimmuborgir over again I probably would have skipped Kirkjan. The walk took a lot of time and the formation was crowded with tourists and not really that impressive. We could easily have spent another day at Mývatn checking out all the different ravines and hot springs or even fishing but we still had a lot on our plate before our arrival in Akureyri that evening. We bid our farewell to the lake and got back on the road to complete what is known as the Diamond Circle.